This invention relates to the sterilizing of medical instruments and materials. It relates more particular to an improved tray systems to facilitate sterilizing, delivering and presenting surgical instruments and materials in a sterile condition prior to surgery and to preventing contamination from said instruments following surgery.
It is normal procedure to provide appropriate types and quantities of surgical instruments and materials for a specific surgical procedure as a sterilized unitary package. Prior to or during an operation, the instruments and materials are removed from the package and laid out on a so-called Mayo table or other surface so that they are readily accessible to the surgeon performing the operation.
A typical instrument package may include a basket or tray in which the instruments are placed. Fixating means such as a finger mat, post or fixture may be provided to fix the positions of the instruments in the basket or tray so that the instruments do not become co-mingled or damaged when the basket or tray is moved about.
As shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,643,303, 4,671,943, and 4,798,292, the basket or tray may be a rigid box-like container with a removable cover to protectively enclose the instruments. Also, in some cases, fixation modules are provided to segregate and fix the positions of the instruments; see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,303. Invariably, however, there is little flexibility in the placement of those modules within the container and only a single layer of trays is allowed in the container. This limits the number and variety of instruments that may be sterilized in the container at one time.
The foregoing discussion of the prior art derives in large part from U.S. Pat. No. 5,424,048 in which there is proposed a sterilization tray system comprising an outer box-like case having columns of holes in the case side and end walls as well as the case bottom and top walls through which steam or other sterilant may circulate both vertically and laterally through the case. The holes in the bottom, side and end walls also serve as anchoring points for a variety of different brackets and fixtures for retaining various instruments and instrument trays within the case. According to the ""048 patent, the positions of the columns of holes in the opposed side and/or end walls are directly related to the dimensions of the trays to enable the trays to be retained at different positions and elevations within the case.
As described in the ""048 patent, the brackets or fixtures are provided with integral posts which extend through the holes provided in the case side and end walls, and/or the tray bottom walls and are locked thereto by means of locking rings. The ""048 patent also describes fastening certain of the fixtures to the tray bottom walls by means of threaded fasteners. In its commercial embodiment, the modular sterilization tray system made in accordance with the ""048 patent is believed to employ threaded fasteners for mounting the brackets and fixtures to the case. As will be appreciated, the use of threaded fasteners and/or locking rings slows assembly/disassembly, and requires increased inventory of parts which may be lost or misplaced. Additionally, threaded fasteners and/or locking rings are prone to loosening and/or may harbor contamination.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved sterilization tray system for medical instruments which overcomes the aforesaid and other problems of the prior art.
Another object is to provide an improved sterilization tray system capable of holding one or more instrument trays arranged in a variety of different positions at elevations within the case and/or a variety of different size instrument trays.
The foregoing and other objects of the invention are achieved by a novel and improved sterilization tray system comprising an outer box-like case having holes in the case bottom walls through which steam or other sterilant may circulate through the case. Pairs of brackets are mounted vertically opposite one another to the case side and/or end walls. A plurality of spaced holes is provided in each bracket. The holes serve as anchoring points for shelf brackets or fixtures for supporting trays at selected positions within the case.